Mary Magdalene

Laying Down the Burdens

When I could no longer buckle my seatbelt without wincing in pain, I knew I had a problem. Whether it was the ergonomically incorrect way I shoveled snow, or the awkward yoga poses I was trying to master, the cause was never truly going to be deciphered without my attention. In order to discover the cure, I needed to figure out what was going on.

You see, my shoulder had been twinging a little on and off for a while, but I ignored the pain. It was hard some days to wrangle myself into compression clothing to exercise, but I forgot about the discomfort as I headed out the door to my next great adventure. Every morning I would think, I should do something about this… and then get distracted. That is, until I could no longer ignore the pain.

Isn’t this how life is?

Learning to Pivot

Over the past month, I have had the joy of visiting with so many friends. We have laughed. We shared our tears and our hearts. Many of these friendships date back decades while some are just a few years young. I am sure that you join me when I say: Where would we be without our posse?

In Abide, we meet a lot of very different women. Interestingly, reading Scripture forces us to read between the lines and infer details based upon what we know about women in real life.

Someone recently asked me who my favorite woman in the New Testament might be. For many of us, the answer comes without any hesitation. Off the top of my head, and before I wrote Abide, I would have immediately said Mary, Jesus’ mother. But, after pondering the many other women who knew Jesus, I gave an answer that surprised her.

Sitting in Front of the Empty Tomb

I’ve never spent much time focused on the resurrection narrative found in the various Gospels. I’m not sure about you, but I am just so happy to get past Palm Sunday and Good Friday that I kinda blend all the stories into one, not quite sure who it is that sees Jesus first. I have been so focused on His Seven Last Words, that I never really paid attention to His First.

In preparing to write one of the final lessons in my new study, I read all 4 accounts and was struck by the unique details each author includes. This morning, Matthew’s version of the burial and resurrection struck a chord with me. You can follow along if you want, Matthew 27:57-61, 28:1-10.

Good Friday was good.